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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Don't Ask....Don't Tell....Don't Hold Your Breath

There was all this hubbub about Senate hearings this month to discuss ending DADT--the military ban on openly gay men and women serving their country.Those hearings have been postponed.

Tara Andringa, a spokeswoman says, "We do not have a date" for the hearing.

Oh, we'll wait. It's not like we're doing anything else, you know, like being allowed the freedom to marry whomever we choose....or, oh, I don't know, adopting a child that otherwise might grow up in an orphanage or foster home.....or, let's see, not getting fired from our jobs or evicted from our homes because of our sexual orientation.

Nope, nothing on our plates, so, we can wait.

And those hundreds, maybe thousand more, men and women in our military, who will be unceremoniously discharged for being gay, well, they'll just have to get used to it.The Senate committee staff that would have held the hearings have been busy working on Afghanistan issues and whether or not we need more troops over there.

More troops?

So, let me get this gay: they are postponing the hearings on whether or not to end the ban on gays in the military so they can discuss whether or not to send more troops into Afghanistan. Seems to me, that if they ended DADT, they'd kill two birds with one stone. They'd be ending a longstanding policy of openly discriminating against gay Americans, and they'd have plenty of troops to go fight these wars.

I think DADT has always been last on the list. ENDA and Hate Crimes legislation are easier to push through as are many other items on the agenda. I don't think most of our GLBT organizations have the clout to push for DADT, especially now.